This isn’t exactly a cat story, but it involves cat litter. And the cat was waiting for me in the car when it all took place. And the accompanying photo shows said cat waiting for a treat.
I needed cat litter, so I took a ride to Petco on my lunch break. I have three refillable buckets; two buckets are from a competitor’s store. They’re roughly the same size, but they can hold five pounds more than the Petco bucket. Last time, I asked as soon as I walked in to make sure it wasn’t a big deal and it wasn’t. That was last time. Today? Big deal.
I was told, “Yeah, they’re not the same shape.”
Ooooookay. Not a problem. I never, ever argue or make a scene, but I will be a gigantic, passively aggressive pain in your ass. I pushed my cart full of empty buckets to the litter tub, filled my single Petco bucket (I mean FILLED….like, so full the lid wouldn’t shut and litter spilled all over, so probably about 35 pounds, which, incidentally, is the same amount that would fit in the other bucket) and pushed my leaky, dusty bucket to the front and paid. It was $12.78. Normally, if I have change rattling around in my bag, I’ll pay with the change and smaller bills, but I decided not to do that this time. I was busy. There was work to do. I handed the cashier a $20 bill, got my $7.22 change, requested a receipt, and headed to the door.
I came so close to stopping just beyond the register, dumping my litter into one of the empty buckets, then going right back to refill it and repeat the procedure. Instead, I pushed my buckets out to my car, transferred the litter, returned the cart like a polite and respectful customer, then went back to fill my Petco bucket.
Since I’ve now had to walk back and forth to the store twice, I was exhausted. It was just so much easier for me to hand her another $20. I took my $7.22 and my receipt and walked out to the car.
After I transferred this load of litter to another empty bucket, I brought my sole Petco bucket BACK into the store to refill it for a third time for another $12.78. This time I was even more tired from hauling 90+ pounds of cat litter around without a cart, that I completely forgot to bring everything but my keys and a $20 bill with me. Oops. $7.22 change. And don’t forget my receipt, please.
I know it’s not the cashier’s fault and even though I was abrupt with her, I wasn’t rude. I said please and thank you and wished her a nice day when she said it to me. The manager came out sometime between the second and third transaction and sort of smiled and nodded and I just glared as if to say, “See what ya did? Isn’t this stupid?”
It took every fiber of my being to keep myself from saying something snarky on my way out, like, “Probably would’ve been easier if we did this a different way,” but I held my tongue.
I brought Rudy with me so I could walk him around the store after I was done and maybe get him a bag of treats. I did bring him inside to sniff the floor and look at the fish and birds, but afterwards, I went next door to Target to get his cat treats.
I can absolutely see not allowing customers to use different buckets if they were trying to get more product than they pay for. I wouldn’t do that. In fact, last time, I didn’t fill the larger buckets all the way because I knew they were being nice to make an exception and I appreciate that. This time, though? I got more than I paid for. The litter from the smaller bucket filled the bigger bucket all the way to the top.
My only regret is that I don’t have any more similarly-sized non-Petco buckets.
Go chase yourself, Petco.
